https://nextedition.com.ng/2019/05/03/lunacy-crimes-ngo-advocates-drug-abuse-free-society/

Worried by the rising cases of lunacy and crime as a result of drug abuse, a Non Governmental Organization, Lobi Community Dialogue Initiative, LCDI organized a one-day sensitization workshop for key stakeholders in Benue towards finding lasting solutions to the menace.

The workshop was put together in conjunction with the Department of Psychiatry, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, Makurdi.

A psychiatrist with the hospital, Dr. Akinjola Oyedele, speaking at the event said the problem of drug abuse was destructive not only to the family but to the society at large as it leads to horrible consequences including crime and death.

Oyedele who presented a paper titled “Consequences of Drug Abuse,” said it may be difficult to have a drug free society but charged everyone to work hard to limit the effects of drug abuse in the country.

Dr Amedu Michael, a Consultant Psychiatrist with the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Makurdi, speaking on, “A Drug Free Society: Myth or Reality”, said the public should be aware of the escalation of substance use in the society.

He said parents should begin to be more aware of what their children do so that they can discover the problem early because that was the easiest time to curb it.

Amedu also called for collaboration between agencies, media, and movie industries among others saying the task of curbing the problems of substance use in the society was a huge one.

He said a lot of progress had been made in Benue state by civil societies, government and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, UNODC, in sensitizing the youths adding, “it must be a continuous fight and there is a lot of advocacy that it should go into the curriculum of schools for students to hear it again and again.”